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Participants:

Cianan and Avery get another chance to talk, and get to know each other just a little bit.

Location

Astronomy Tower

Date

December 07, 1995

Watch For

Bonding. And Merrick.

Logger

Avery

Cianan sneaks up here on occasion to indulge in one of his favorite, free, muggle activities - stargazing. The observatory gives a full view, and with no city lights obscuring the stars it really is a much different experience then back home. He has a magically warmed mug of tea set down on the ground beside him, while he just lays flat on a bench staring upwards. One might even think he's fallen asleep there if they aren't too observant.

Avery definitely isn't too observant — not in this instance, anyway, since she hasn't actually even yet noticed that Cianan is there. It's unusual to find her doing homework alone, but Merrick is off with Claire practicing some Quidditch moves … in the dark … like a pair of crazies … and Avery opted to actually do her homework instead of watching them. She's got star charts to work on, and she and her pile of paper are moving to go sit on that very same bench before she actually notices Cianan and stops dead in her tracks. "Oh! Cripes, I nearly sat on you there."

"That could have been awkward." Cianan isn't one to mince too many words with the few that he offers. "There's not much light here to do homework with - you sure you're going to be able to, you know, see?" He doesn't know what the crazies are up to, but he would probably agree that practicing in the dark is a little weird to say the least.

"I've got a candle. Unless it'll be a problem for you, if I light it." Avery sits on a different bench instead, nearby. "And how else am I supposed to do star charts, if I can't — see the stars?"

"You can see the stars better without any light." Explains the young Ravenclaw, glancing over with a bit of a smile. "Though I guess it would be difficult to write. And there's the ceiling in the Great Hall. It's usually the night sky." Once he starts on a topic, obviously, he keeps talking. Sort of. "But the candle won't bother me at all. If you sprawl out on the bench you can look up like that, and it won't even hurt your neck."

Avery looks doubtful, but not at any of Cianan's suggestions — more she's looking doubtfully down at the bench. "Won't it hurt my /head/, though? Or are they actually comfortable?" She flops over sideways, giving it a try, and then rolls onto her back. Hm. It's actually not that bad. "Okay, I guess not. Are you good at this? Star stuff?"

Cianan hadn't really considered addressing that, but he shrugs out of the jacket that Siobhan at one point had transfigured from his old jumper and holds it out for the Gryffindor girl. "You can put that behind your head if you want. I'm used to the cold." he offers, then pausing. "Just don't tell Professor Noble. She might throttle me."is added in a conspiratorial whisper. "And, ah… no. I just liked doing it back home. Just looking at them. The stars. So I figured I'd do it here too. 'Bout the only thing I'm really good at is Divination. And that's not by choice."

"Well, I'm pretty rubbish at — actually, both, honestly. Astronomy and Divination. Good at runes, though, and — history." Avery does not actually look ashamed, but she expects the mocking to be coming. History? Who likes history? Besides, apparently, Avery (and, honestly, Merrick). "Thanks, though," she says of her new pillow, not questioning his comfort in the cold. "Why would she?"

"Well then I don't feel so bad." Cianan jokes, nodding about Runes and not making fun of history. Instead, … "Oh really? Magical History, or Muggle Histary or Wizarding History? Or is it all of them that you're good at?" he wonders, eyebrow raised. "I'm good at charms I guess. Transfiguration makes me want to crawl under the desk though. And so does Professor Trelawney actually." Lalalala. As for Sio and why she would throttle him, well, that prompts a large smile. "She hates seeing me without a proper jacket and clothes. She's a bit protective of family; even family she just recently discovered."

"Heard that from Merrick, yeah, about her being protective," Avery replies, smile still sticking around but not widening or showing any sign of surprise: why shouldn't he be related to Siobhan Noble? It's not unusual to her. "And Magical History, really. Except for law, Wizarding history in general is a little dull when it doesn't involve magical uses. I'm not too interested in social policy. And I don't know much of anything about Muggle history, honestly."

"Yeah, I hear she's the same way with the Slytherin' House members." And has seen it a time or two, but there's no point in bringing that up. "Magical History is hard for me." Cianan admits, slowly. "My Dad is pure blood, but he married a muggle and so I grew up in the muggle world. He never spoke much about it, so it all seems a little odd to me. Hard to pick up on, you know?" He doesn't seem too phased by that though. "Now muggle history I could talk about. Least up till muggles 6th grade." After which came Hogwarts, presumably. "It can be useful, for people who live or work on the fringe of the muggle world. It explains a lot about why things have to be kept so secret."

Avery certainly looks interested, and even sits up again to look at him better. "Yeah, I bet it would be. It'd be hard for me too, going the other way. I'm always impressed at people who can handle living in two worlds, though it doesn't really seem much like anyone … actually does that. Except for Merrick's friend Claire, I guess." Shrug. "Do you like it here, though?"

"I think it depends on what your magical talents are. Some just… it would be too hard to try and mask it in the muggle world." Kee decides, lips twisting ruefully at Claire's mention. "She hasn't much choice though, since she needs muggle medicine." He takes a thoughtful moment to consider whether he likes it here, trying to decide how to phrase things. "It's easier in some ways. I don't go hungry here. I don't have to be cold here. And thought some people look at me weird for my visions, it isn't the same as back home where they'd try to lock me up in a hospital for the crazy. So, I guess I do. And it's just… fascinating here. Do you like Hogwarts?"

"I do." Avery pushes a few stray hairs out of her face, and starts fidgeting about a little with her pencil. Never really one to hold still, this girl. "But I've been excited about coming here my whole life. I think I'd have died if I hadn't gotten a letter. And it's still weird, not being in the same house as Merrick — but we handle it pretty well, actually. It keeps us solid, I guess. Not together too often, but not apart too often either. If we were in the same house we probably would've refused to have separate bedrooms and that would have been a whole mess —" Realizing that Cianan probably doesn't care about her family dynamics, Avery stops talking and reboots topics. "Visions? Those are important. Not crazy."

"The twin thing, right?" Cianan doesn't have much problem being still. At least not when he's up in the astronomy tower. Because he's still laying back on the bench with his hands laces together and resting on his stomach. "I wouldn't know a thing about how that works, but I gather it must be difficult sometimes needing to be apart." He's also just guessing at that, given the hesitance in his voice. He was actually kind of hoping she would slide right past the mention of visions, but her statement about them makes him do a bit of a double-take glance. "Depends on whether people think it's a real vision. And how your visions come about; like, what kind of trance you go into. And whether you can control them. Without the right combination, people still think you're nuts. And muggles -especially-. They think you're creepy -and- crazy."

Shrug. "Yeah, it's — we could definitely survive always together, but if we're sometimes apart it gives us more to talk about," Avery concludes logically. "And people who question you are just dumb and you should ignore them. Obviously. I also bet you're not too keen on talking about it."

Okay, that prompts a laugh from Cianan whether he wants to or not really. "I'll remember that. They're just dumb." Simple. Effective. And those are the solutions that usually work best right? "Talking about what? My visions? I don't mind answering questions. But I don't usually… I mean, I rarely bring it up. Because I don't have much control over it yet."

"It's not like I'm going to ask anything," Avery says, aiming for reassuring. "I'm just guessing you're not too fond of talking about it because people are probably either nosy or rude, just because that tends to be the nature of people in the face of something they don't recognize." Again, she shrugs; then she lights her candle, and attempts to actually try drawing.

"Kind of, yeah. Most people don't ask questions though. They make assumptions and just comment." A habit people have that makes Cianan clench his teeth a bit in frustration. Her reassurance -is- reassuring though. Really. "And, thanks." With the candle lit and her drawing, he picks up his cup to take a draw of the tea; surreptitiously glancing at her drawing to see how she's doing.

Really? Not very good. Merrick is the artist, Avery is better with words — and so her star chart is really just a collection of dots on an elliptical sphere. It's messily sketched, and she's shading in parts that are at least close to being accurate, chewing on the edge of her lip, one eye squinted half shut. "I won't make assumptions either," she offers up between lines.

"That's much appreciated." Cianan is careful with his words, but then also compelled to offer a tip. "Those three stars right there.." he notes, sitting up so he can lean over to point them out. "Should be a bit closer to the cluster right here." And again, he points. But then he's quiet, settling back and looking up again.

Silently, Avery is following his instructions: her chart starts looking a lot better as she does so, too. "Thanks," she says, as she finishes her last bit of erasing. "And thank the moon and stars for erasers. If I was doing all of this in quill I'd probably die. Not for long, 'cause Mer'd get mad at me, but I'd probably die."

"Welcome." He says simply, finally sitting up permanently so that he can stand and then picking up the still warm mug. "I should probably head back, and I don't want to be a distraction. Just bring my jacket to the morning run, would you?" Cianan doesn't mind lending it, but a morning run in the winter does require ones jacket. At least at the beginning. "That's why we need a magical 'erase' spell. For the quill. And we wouldn't want Mer mad at you." he agrees.

Avery starts to laugh, then, and gives Cianan this big, delighted smile. "Magical erase spell. That's brilliant. I think spells can be created, maybe we should work on it — and oh, no, you take your jacket." She stops leaning on it and offers it back to him. "I don't want you to be cold, it's okay! It won't take me too long to draw this up, now. And I'm sorry I interrupted your — stargazing. It looked like you were enjoying it."

"We'd be famous, and beloved by students everywhere." Cianan intones, not quite able to sound serious. He slings the jacket back over his arm, but shakes his head at her apology. "Don't be. I enjoyed talking with you more." The words are spoken blithely, so it's not until after he says it that he becomes embarrassed. Then offering a sheepish smile and a shrug before he heads back for the tower stairs.

"I'll catch you soon, then," says Avery as Cianan gets up to go, shooting him her winning greeting smile again. The same one from the other day, in Siobhan's classroom — a more involved smile than the one he got the first time they met when she railroaded his attempt to not have anyone sit next to him. "Maybe I'll try the actual stargazing thing sometime. Later!" And she's back to her drawing, as he leaves.

Which is, of course, sooner or later the cue for Merrick to arrive — handy, that she lit that candle, so he has something to aim for as he flies on his broomstick, like a crazy person, alllllll the way up to the top of the Astronomy Tower, to help her finish up her sketch.